#391 Osborne Overlook, one night boondock Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area

Our first stop was a boondock on free camp.net and we thought we'd give it a try as it was two hours away. It was an uneventful drive but it became a two-lane with a lot of hills and dips so in a big rig it was a bit of a challenge. Not bad just slow going maybe 45 miles an hour most of the time. We did pass a rather strange-looking gathering on the right. It was either a boondock or a nightly type place but there were maybe a hundred or more RVs there out in the desert. I saw all kinds of we hate Hillary and pro-trump and stop the steal. It just makes you sad that if you get people off to themselves, they will be this weird so I’m so glad I'm not there with them.

There was another interesting thing I saw on the way was a sculpture of sorts in the sand dune. Somebody had made a green head that looked like an alien and it was just rather large in a little bit eerie

picture

We saw a sign that pointed towards the recreation area as it was a federally operated site. It was BLM land so we took a right and it was up or rather steep hill but I love our new truck she didn't mind and we went right on up that hill. The first thing I noticed was that this location was an endless sandstorm. They had mentioned sand and wow you felt like you were in the Mojave or something because it was endless sand. The name of the place was called the Imperial sand dunes so it was pretty cool stuff but the wind was something else. I wanted to be off to myself so I looked for an area where I could be parallel to the road right where everything became sand. I slid out with our door facing the dunes instead of the asphalt parking lot. I got set up pretty well and got comfortable and some guy came up about 15-20 minutes later and said hey were you planning on staying here for a while. I said well, you know overnight and he said well you can't be here. He was either a host or he was a very concerned patron but he said that most people don't notice but there's a sign clearly stating where the RV people can be and you're way outside of that boundary. You need to go ahead and move your rig to the appropriate place and you have a nice day now. I said that will be fine and I moved to where he suggested it wasn't as perfect but you can't have everything. He said if you catch the ranger in the wrong mood they can give you a large fine for this so I was just trying to be helpful. I said ok and thanked him.

We only had one purpose here and that was to rest after a two-hour drive and to get a good night's sleep and hit the road again so it didn't have to be fancy. I had looked up how much wind does it take to make a rig like ours flip over. The internet said that it takes about 80 to 90 miles an hour of wind to blow one over. It was probably blowing about 25 maybe 30 miles an hour so I relaxed a bit. The sand the wind carried was a bit abrasive so we didn't venture out much.

We had an ice evening just chilling and I can't keep talking about this but the people next to us were very pro-trump with a very big flag and they just seemed like there were the people I hate. I just wish that they didn't breathe air but they do so that was all I can say about that. I hope we meet you never again. I started flying my hippie tye-dye flag we bought in Sedona on each of our stops to counter the crazy right-wing folks. You know the folks, ½ the US.

The natural parts of it were beautiful, just not the humans. It was interesting to be in a big giant sand dune. It kind of reminded me of Jockey's Ridge State Park, Nags Head NC.

That's all I've got to report about this area

3/21 one night boondock

Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area

Hwy 78 / Osborne Park Rd. Brawley, CA 92227760-337-4400Official Website

GPS: 32.9838, -115.1325